Update on The New Republic’s ‘Man in Iraq’

UPDATE 29 June, 2009
I received correspondence from Mrs. John Hatley (in the comments).

UPDATE 18 April, 2009

Hat tip to Jonn at This Aint Hell:
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=9817

1SG John Hatley, the senior NCO of fabulist Scott Beauchamp’s unit, was convicted yesterday of the murder of four Iraqis and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The full story behind the shooting, and why:

http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/new-york-times-us-soldiers-executed-prisoners/

The frothing moonbats will see this as ‘vindication’ for Beauchamp’s wild-assed tales, (picking on disfigured women, wearing a child’s skull on his head or running over dogs with a Bradley) even though he fully admitted  he lied.
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=545  
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/the-last-gasp-of-the-new-republics-man-in-iraq/ His behavior was a disgrace and in no way reflected on the bravery, dedication, and honor of his unit. Beauchamp was and is a punk. His recant came after he succeeded in feeding maws of the anti-military/anti-war moonbats. I also had correspondence with Major Kirk Luedeke, the Public Relations Officer, who explained Beauchamp’s antics in detail.

1SG Hatley’s squad did not go into a village and select unarmed civilians for a summary execution. They chased down four armed terrorists who fired at them; capturing them as well as finding their weapons cache. In retrospect, they should have saved themselves the trouble and killed them on the spot.

The leftwingnuts are dancing a jig over a rare (albeit trumped up) conviction, when as I’ve mentioned, 99.9% of the accusations leveled against American troops fall flat either before they get to trial, or as a result of acquitals.

Case in point: John “the troops are cold-blooded murderers” Murtha made that accusation against the marines who fought at Haditha. They were exonerated.

Here’s another example of overzealous prosecution and subsequent exoneration:

http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/wrongly-accused-soldier-exonerated

You can expect a flurry of ‘justifications’ for Janet Napolitano’s moronic “threat assessment” on returning war veterans.

The worst thing about this is that American troops who fight so valiantly in the region of the world that breeds the terrorists who attacked this country, will now have to worry about doing what it takes to accomplish the mission and being prosecuted for doing so.

The consequences of releasing Islamic terrorist combatants from GITMO and other points of custody, is that they pick up where they left off.  The Left has more of a problem with us fighting Islamofascists hellbent on a world Caliphate, than they do with what it takes to stop them.

Whether you like it or not, 1SG Hatley’s actions saved the lives of Soldiers by stopping those terrorists dead in their tracks. 

I had initially removed the First Sergeant’s contact information from the post, because there were concerns over privacy issues. Until this matter with Beauchamp was resolved, he needed to be able to conduct the investigation without too much distraction.

I think enough time has passed, and Beauchamp’s fraud has been exposed enough to go ahead and include the e-mail from his First Sergeant:

This is the ISG’s email response:

SFC McElroy,

I’m not in the habit of answering these email’s. It would be far too many. I appreciate all the support from home and I can assure you that not a single word of this was true. We’ve been fighting this fight for quite some time. Numerous soldiers within my unit have served on several deployments and this is my third year as a First Sergeant in this unit. My soldiers conduct is consistently honorable. This soldier has other underlining issues which I’m sure will come out in the course of the investigation. No one at any of the post we live at or frequent, remotely fit the descriptions of any of the persons depicted in this young man’s fairy tale. I can’t and won’t divulge any information regarding this soldier, but I do sincerely appreciate all the support from the people back home. Again, this young man has a vivid imagination and I promise you that this by no means reflects the truth of what is happening here. I’m currently serving with the best America has to offer. I have worked and fought closely with every soldier within my company and they are consummate professionals in an area most people can’t fathom. I’m proud of my soldiers and would gladly give my life for any one of them. Please continue to keep them with you in your prayers and thank God that we have these courageous men willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, Americans, and the people of this struggling nation.

Sincerely,

1SG Hatley

There’s also several responses from Beauchamp’s outfit that can be found here:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/07/more_from_fob_falcon.asp

The comments include a concise refutation of Beauchamp’s allegations from Major Kirk Luedeke, the Public Relations Officer, as follows: (USED WITH PERMISSION)

I’ve been watching the events on the New Republic’s “Scott Thomas” piece with interest. As the 4th IBCT Public Affairs Officer- I can tell you unequivocally: there was NO mass grave discovered in this area of operations in conjunction with the building of a coalition outpost anytime in the past 12 months. None. Zero. Zip.

…..We are not in the business of suppressing his right to free speech…on the contrary- he’s free to submit whatever he wants, so long as it doesn’t put others at risk for operational security (OPSEC). Of course- by putting his name on such outlandish claims, he then has to account for what is clearly a series of false statements. So- obviously- it is left to reasonable people to decide who is telling the truth here.

….. Just about every Soldier these days has his or her own digital camera or video camera. Talk to anyone here- every unit down to squad level in our brigade is *required* to have a camera on every mission. It’s all part of being prepared for such a discovery. Surely- there would be photos of the skulls and mass grave if it truly existed, would there not? The reason there isn’t any photos, is because simply- the story isn’t true.

…..I know that if my organization claimed to have unearthed a sizeable cache of hundreds of explosives, rockets, nitric acid and other key components to make roadside bombs, otherwise known here in these parts as a “good news story,” media outlets would rightfully demand some kind of proof to subtantiate our claims. That’s why we take pictures of such things and provide them along with our press releases.

…..I invite Scott Thomas to come by the Dragon PAO shop at FOB Falcon- Bldg 301, Rm 119, and I’d be happy to share the DoD media policy with him. While he’s here, I’d love to discuss with him the mass graves, Bradley IFV dog hunting and IED burn victim he’s so intent on stating is fact. If he can provide the evidence, I will gladly retract every word I’ve posted on the subject. If he’s not willing to do that, then it kind of makes you wonder about his credibility, and that of the New Republic’s doesn’t it?

Best regards,
Major Kirk Luedeke
Public Affairs Officer
4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division DRAGONS FOB Falcon

I received correspondence from PVT Scott Thomas Beauchamp’s Co. 1SG.  I e-mailed him via AKO and did not expect him to have the time to answer, but I’m proud to say he did.  Looks like The New Republic’s representative lackey has alot of explaining to do.  This was my e-mail to him:

Date: Thursday, July 26, 2007 20:56
Subject: Re: PVT Beauchamp

1SG,
I’ll bet you’ve been inundated with e-mails from Active Duty Soldiers as well as veterans, but please bear with me. I read the inane comments by PVT Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his “literary” efforts are indicative of someone who’s as bright as a 10 Watt bulb.

This is my response to him, which I posted on his “blog”:

Hey Beauchamp,

You want a little cheese with that ‘whine’?
My gawd, what pathetic BS. How old are you? Three?
Every morning you get up, you are first and foremost a Soldier, sweetpea. I’m an Iraq war Veteran twice over, and your little rant makes me want to vomit.
I saw your “diary” in the New Republic and I get the feeling you’ve got a reputation as a whiny problem child. I ran across a few of your type as an NCOIC, and my stock answer for them is this:

You were not drafted, you enlisted.  You are now a Soldier in the United States Army and your primary mission is to fight and win the nation’s wars. If you cannot handle that, do us all a favor and GET OUT.

If you really have the integrity and guts to stand by an accusation, you don’t hide behind a pseudonym; you directly confront those you accuse instead of publishing your crap on a website notorious for smearing this country and the military.

Your feckless statements are a disgrace and you certainly don’t do anything to honor your fellow Soldiers with your tripe. I seriously doubt that any of what you say is truthful. 

I want to see the responses from your fellow troops. I’ll bet they have a few choice words for you.

First Sergeant,
Please pass this along to the rest of the Soldiers in your fine
outfit:

You’re all doing a hell of a job. The United States Army is what stands between freedom and Sharia Law, and you should be very proud of what you’re doing. You’re helping to rid the world of Islamofacsists who want to transform the entire planet into a Caliphate. I served as a Soldier for over 30 combined years, and
I’ve been where you are now. It’s a tough job, but the Army’s done it for 232 years.

Respectfully,
SFC Cheryl McElroy
US ARMY (RET)
Veteran of Desert Storm, Bosnia, Operation Iraqi Freedom

Oh yeah, it looks like Beauchamp is in deep shit. According to his good buddy Frankin Foer, the Chain of Command took his toys away:

The magazine’s editor, Franklin Foer, disclosed in an interview that Beauchamp is married to a New Republic staffer, and that is “part of the reason why we found him to be a credible writer.” Foer also said Beauchamp “has put himself in significant jeopardy” and “lost his lifeline to the rest of the world” because military officials have taken away his laptop, cellphone and e-mail privileges.

Well, fucking waaaaaah! Confiscation of electronic media is perfectly justified in this case. The whoppers he told have to be properly traced, and documented.

Let’s get something straight: There’s all kinds of milblogs out there, and most contain balanced, true to life experiences which in no way reflect badly on the military. Opinions notwithstanding, false accusations are generally not tolerated by the UCMJ.
He placed himself in legal jeopardy the minute he decided to present his spiteful little fantasies as fact.

Beauchamp did not provide any documentation for his three published columns. He is married to a reporter-researcher at the New Republic, Elspeth Reeve.

Nepotism, anyone? Gee, and we were begining to think he got published on merit.

….Foer said the magazine is attempting to confirm every detail. “We are trying to be as deliberate and meticulous as we possibly can,” he said. “We’re not going to be rushed into making any sort of snap judgment.”

Oh, you mean like the ‘deliberate, meticulous’ methods you used to verify Beauchamp’s regurgitations? No snap judgement there.

As conservative bloggers yesterday continued to challenge the veracity of Beauchamp’s accounts, Foer said: “It is really unfortunate that someone like Scott, who was really only trying to tell his particular story, has become a pawn in the debate over the war and the Weekly Standard’s efforts to press an ideological agenda.”

Link:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072700037.html

Newsflash, you Pulp Fiction Pimp: You threw gasoline on the fire of the ideological debate as soon as you published Beauchamp’s canard. You saw another America-bashing opportunity and you gladly participated. In your zeal to bad-mouth the United States Army, you got egg all over your liberal face, and you don’t even have the decency to be embarrassed. Congratulations, Foer.  You added one more item to your “stupid column”.